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Midwest BSFA Hosts Black Sci-Fi Short Film Nights

In honor of Black Speculative Fiction Month, Midwest BSFA is having two black sci-fi short film nights in October!

Join us as we watch and discuss the following shorts:

Oct. 25:Wake (21:29)
A repressed woman does away with her domineering father, freeing herself to pursue her heart’s desire. Using a local folk magic called “root work,” she conjures a demon to aid her in creating the man of her dreams. However, she soon finds herself in a waking nightmare.

Pumzi (21:51)
Set in a post-apocalyptic world in which water scarcity has extinguished life above ground, one scientist is on a quest to investigate the possibility of germinating seeds beyond the confines of her repressive subterranean Nairobi community.

Lost (9:15)
This horror short with a social justice message was shot by sci-fi author Tananarive Due on her iPhone.

Oct. 27:Rain (23:05)
A loving fan tribute to the baddest of all black female superheroes – Storm of the X-Men.

Danger Word (18:40)
A 13-year-old girl and her grandfather, hiding out in a wooded cabin after a plague, meet the challenge of their lives when her birthday trip to a trading post goes horribly awry.

Rise of the Orishas (12:22)

According to the Yoruba religion of Nigeria, Orishas are a collective of charismatic deities with specialised supernatural gifts, powers and responsibilities. Tradition has it that these supernatural beings once walked the earth with humanity. Rise tells the story of these mythical deities as modern-day superheroes in Britain.

Speculative fiction is defined as science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Within those categories exists many other subcategories, such as cyberpunk, steampunk, and magical realism.

“The way that black creators confront the issues these genres tackle is often quite different from the way other non-black creators do,” says Aiesha Little, Midwest’s BSFA’s co-founder. “With our short film selection, we wanted to explore that as well as bring to light the variety of speculative fiction available from independent black filmmakers.”